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Ad-Ler Roofing in Fort Myers, Fla., was recently fined for the seventh time in four years by OSHA for not providing proper fall protection. The "repeat" classification of the January citation means the roofer could have to pay $91,466. However, the roofer has criticized OSHA for the citation, saying the agency punishes companies but not employees when individuals disregard known safety standards, the Miami Herald reports.

“We fully understand their mission and support it; but we don’t feel that their method of enforcement does anything to further employee safety in our occupation,” Ad-Ler COO Ryan Gartrell wrote in an email to the Miami Herald. “We also feel that their enforcement can be selective at times and based on prior histories and deeper pockets.”

Individual employees aren’t fined by OSHA. Gartrell points out an employee speeding in a company car or truck can’t blame the employer for providing a car that exceeds the speed limit.

“OSHA regulations and enforcement is the opposite,” his email read. “You can provide an employee fall protection equipment; training in its use; on the job training; hold tailgate meetings; safety meetings, perform more than 8,000 internal inspections per year, fine employees for not following safety procedure, reward ones that do and yet OSHA drives by and sees one guy not wearing a harness and it amounts to a $91,000 violation for the employer and nothing at all for the employee.

“The employee has to have some dog in the fight and has to have some level of concern for his/her own safety at some point. A company cannot compete in this marketplace having one babysitter per employee, which was OSHA’s recommendation at our last meeting.”

Gartrell's email also claimed larger companies such as Ad-Ler are punished more frequently by OSHA because the company does jobs that are longer and more visible. Gartrell said smaller roofers who perform quick work have "no fear of being caught," while roofers performing larger projects can be in the same place for months, making them easier for OSHA to locate and potentially fine.

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